THE VOCABULARY OF IDENTITY IN UZBEK-LANGUAGE SCHOLARSHIP: O'ZLIK, AYNIYAT AND IDENTIKLIK IN THE INDEPENDENCE PERIO

Abstract

The article examines how the concept of identity is expressed in the Uzbek language of historical and ethnological scholarship of the independence period. Three lexical resources are identified: the native derivative o‘zlik with its extension o‘zlikni anglash, the Arabic-derived philosophical term ayniyat, and the international loanword identiklik, which coexist with the ethnographic taxonomy inherited from Soviet ethnos theory (etnos, elat, millat, etnogenez). The study applies conceptual-historical analysis together with the comparative-historiographical approach and the three-dimension model of identity (cultural-symbolic, institutional-classificatory and actor-strategic). It is shown that the Uzbek vocabulary distributes across separate words the meanings that the English term identity fuses, and that each lexical layer gravitates towards one analytical dimension. A working terminological convention for ethnology and history is proposed.